1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a ratchet connector and, in particular, to a ratchet connector with large torque and easy to change its orientation.
2. Related Art
Please refer to FIG. 11, which shows a conventional ratchet connector. The hexagonal base 72 of a supporter 71 is inserted in the mounting hole of a box end wrench. The O-ring 73 of the hexagonal base 72 urges against the inner wall of the mounting hole in a resilient way. The supporter 71 is positioned at the box end wrench.
However, when the user exerts a force on the box end wrench, it often departs from the hexagonal base 72. This is very troublesome.
Besides, flipping the change orientation switch 74 on the side edge of the supporter 71 can change the screw driving direction to clockwise or counterclockwise. However, the change orientation switch 74 is located on one side edge of the supporter 71. Therefore, the user can only operate in a single direction. It is thus very inconvenient. Moreover, the change orientation switch 74 is often mis-triggered in practice. This is the most serious problem of the ratchet connector.
Please refer to FIGS. 12 and 13. They show another conventional ratchet connector. It uses a switch ring 81 to change the screw driving direction. This solves the problem of operating the change orientation switch 74 in a single direction in FIG. 11. In particular, a first latch 82 and a third latch 83 are limited in an accommodating groove 84 by the switch ring 81. A second latch 85 and a fourth latch 86 go into a latch groove 87, respectively. A ratchet 88 is only allowed to rotate in one direction. To rotate the ratchet 88 in the opposite direction, one rotates the switch ring 81 so that the second latch 85 and the fourth latch 86 are retracted by the switch ring 81 into the accommodating groove 84. The first latch 82 and the third latch 83 go into the corresponding latch grooves 87.
Although the switch ring 81 improves the drawback of triggering by mistake, the control is not accurate. When the user rotates the switch ring 81 to change the rotating direction of the ratchet 88, it is often not smooth because the structures of the latches 82, 83, 85, 86 are not perfect. This is the problem of this design. Due to the consideration of torque, this design requires at least four latches. This makes the manufacturing process complicated and expensive.
Please refer to FIG. 14 for a third conventional ratchet connector. A knob 91 is screwed onto a driving section 92 to solve the problem that the box end wrench 93 may easily fall off the driving section 92. However, in practice, the user has to first release the knob 91, dispose the box end wrench 93, and then tighten the knob 91 to position the box end wrench 93. The knob 91 is convenient for operations and thus needs to improve.